EVEN though she finished second to France's Iris Mittenaere, Raquel Pelissier of Haiti believes the former will be a great Miss Universe.
The 24-year-old took to Instagram to thank everyone for the support she received during the Miss Universe pageant.
She said without the fans, she wouldn't go that far in the competition.
"I wanna thank everyone who followed my journey and supported me. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to represent our beloved Haiti. My dream was to show the world that Haiti is here and Haiti is worth it! I feel so blessed to achieve that today."
She then addressed the newly-crowned Miss Universe Mittenaere.
"To my beloved Iris, I am sure you will be a great Miss Universe. I believe in you," she wrote in a photo with Mittenaere taken seconds before the announcement of winner.
Pelissier added that there are so many great memories she will take home from the competition.
During Monday's pageant held at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, the Port-au-Prince native emerged as one of the crowd favorite.
She impressed many not only with her looks but how she aced the question-and-answer portion.
When asked what were her failures and what did she learn from it, the beauty queen answered: "I thought I was failing myself because I was not living my dreams, I was living day by day. It was a bad event but I chose to be a very positive person and learned a great lesson from it because I am here today and I am living my dream.”
Pelissier is a survivor of the January 2010 magnitude 7 earthquake that shook Haiti.
Meanwhile, former Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach also congratulated Mittenaere on her win.
The Filipina beauty wrote: "From Philippines to France! Congratulations Miss Universe Iris Mittenaere. You are the Queen! I'm so excited for your reign as Miss Universe.
Aside from the coveted Miss Universe crown, Mittenaere will be based in New York City for the duration of her reign.
The Miss Universe organization will also provide apartment, wardrobe, makeup, allowance and projects for the winner. (SunStar Philippines)